Scribd
Upload
29 views

Form and Meaning: Zero Conditional

The document discusses different types of conditional sentences in English: 1) Zero conditional refers to general truths expressed with a present tense in both clauses (e.g. "If you heat water, it boils"). 2) First conditional refers to probable future possibilities, using present tense in the if-clause and future tense in the main clause (e.g. "If they don't arrive soon, we'll leave without them"). 3) Second conditional refers to unlikely or impossible future situations/possibilities, using past tense in the if-clause and "would" in the main clause (e.g. "If I had time, I would drop you off at school"). 4)

Uploaded by

Hampnie Hambert
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
29 views

Form and Meaning: Zero Conditional

The document discusses different types of conditional sentences in English: 1) Zero conditional refers to general truths expressed with a present tense in both clauses (e.g. "If you heat water, it boils"). 2) First conditional refers to probable future possibilities, using present tense in the if-clause and future tense in the main clause (e.g. "If they don't arrive soon, we'll leave without them"). 3) Second conditional refers to unlikely or impossible future situations/possibilities, using past tense in the if-clause and "would" in the main clause (e.g. "If I had time, I would drop you off at school"). 4)

Uploaded by

Hampnie Hambert
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Zero conditional

Form and meaning


The form of the zero conditional causes no problems since the present tenses are
used in both clauses.
If clause

Main or conditional clause

If + Present tense

Present tense

If you heat water

it boils.

The zero conditional is normally used to talk about facts and to express general
truths.
First conditional
Form and meaning
This type refers to future possibilities that are certain or probable.
If clause

Main or conditional clause

If + Present tense

Future tense

If they dont arrive soon

well leave without them.

If they are late

Im going to be angry.

You will note that on the if side of the sentence any present tense can be used,
while in the main clause the speaker is free to choose any future that helps to
express any additional meaning that the speaker wants to express.
Second conditional
Form and meaning
This type is often called the hypothetical or unreal future conditional since it is
usually used to speculate about either very unlikely future situations or present and
future impossibilities.
Second-type conditionals
If clause

Main or conditional clause

If + Past tense

would + verb

If I had time

I would drop you off at school.

If I had wings

I would fly.

Third conditional
Form and meaning
This type refers to hypothetical situations in the past. The main uses of the third
conditional are for speculating about the past, expressing regrets, excusing our own
actions and criticising others. In this case we use the Past Perfect tenses in
the if clause and would + have in the main clause.
Third-type conditionals
If clause

Main or conditional clause

If + Past Perfect tense

would have + past participle

If I had known about his condition

I would have phoned for you earlier.

If we had known about the storm

we wouldnt have started our journey.

Mixed conditionals
The four types of conditional sentence discussed above appear to fit into very rigid
patterns of form and meaning but we often find exceptions to these rules. In many
cases we may want to talk about events that happened or did not happen in the
past and the present results of those events. Therefore, we will often need to mix
clauses from different conditional types in order to get our meaning across clearly
and unambiguously. Taking one example from above, we might want to say:
If Id bought the lottery ticket, we would be millionaires now.
In this sentence I want to refer to something that I did not do in the past (and
probably regret) and the possible effect that this action might have had on the
present so I use a third-conditional if clause and a second-conditional main clause.
Swapping around these two types we also get:
If he was going to come, he would have arrived by now (with a secondconditional if clause and a third-conditional main).

You might also like